A multi-agency operation has eradicated Chinese malware embedded in critical infrastructure throughout the United States.
The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) received testimony about the operation on Jan. 31, which intelligence leaders said targeted oil, gas, water, internet, energy, and transportation infrastructure.
“The purpose of the hacking was not to collect intelligence,” Select Committee Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said.
“The purpose of the hacking was to install malware that, once activated, would disrupt or damage the infrastructure.”
Mr. Krishnamoorthi added that had the CCP been allowed to activate the malware, it would have physically harmed American citizens and amounted to an act of war.
“This means targeting Americans,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi said. “This means we could suffer large-scale blackouts in major cities. We could lose access to our cell towers and the internet. We could lose access to clean water and fuel.”
CCP Planned Attacks ‘Against Civilians’
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that the CCP’s intrusion into American systems was unique for the extent to which it deliberately targeted civilian systems that would directly pose physical harm to U.S. citizens.
“They’re not focused just on political and military targets,” Mr. Wray said.
To that end, Mr. Wray said that the Volt Typhoon malware which the operation removed from U.S. systems was designed to directly disrupt, degrade, and destroy U.S. infrastructure, likely in coordination with direct military actions in the event of a conflict between the two nations.
“The volt typhoon malware allowed China to hide, among other things, pre-operational reconnaissance and network exploitation against critical infrastructure like our communications, energy, transportation, [and] water sectors,” Mr. Wray said.
“Let’s be clear. Cyber threats to our critical infrastructure represent real-world threats to our physical safety.”
Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, said that finding and countering CCP malware targeting civilians was now the agency’s top priority.
“This is a decision by an actor to actually focus on civilian targets,” Mr. Nakasone said.
“Defending against this activity is our top priority.”
‘Cyber Invasion’
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said that Volt Typhoon was just one part of an all-out “cyber invasion” by the CCP. An invasion, she said, aimed at overwhelming U.S. systems at a time and place of the regime’s choosing.
“This is likely just the tip of the iceberg,” Ms. Easterly said.
“Imagine not one pipeline, but many pipelines disrupted. Telecommunications going down so people can’t use their cell phones. People start getting sick from polluted water. Trains get derailed. Air traffic control systems, port control systems are malfunctioning.
“This is truly an everything, everywhere, all-at-once scenario.”
Ms. Eastlery described the CCP as a “preeminent cyber threat,” saying that the regime sought to leverage its infiltration of American systems to “crush the American will” and “induce societal panic in their adversary.”
“The threat is not theoretical … CISA teams have found and eradicated Chinese instructions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors including aviation water energy transportation,” Ms. Easterly said.
Similarly, Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) described the malware as “the cyberspace equivalent of placing bombs on American bridges, water treatment facilities, and power plants.”
“There is no economic benefit for these actions. There is no intelligence-gathering rationale,” Mr. Gallagher said.
“The sole purpose is to be ready to destroy American infrastructure, which will inevitably result in mass American casualties.”
From The Epoch Times
